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Six on Saturday – Festive Frolics

Today I tentatively ventured up the slippery steps in order to inspect the top garden and take a few photos. And why, you may well ask, would I put myself at such risk? All for you Mr Prop, all for you. Also for all the other Six on Saturdayers and their followers. And for my followers and those that just happen upon me and wonder what the bloomin’ Nora is going on here. And of course for Father Christmas and all his little helpers. Which brings me nicely back to The Prop again. Yes, in case you hadn’t noticed, it is that time of year again. The gardens are not awash with brightness, but who cares, our Christmas jumpers make up for any colour deficit. Without further ado, here are my festive Six on Saturday. Before I start I should make something clear, they are “festive” because it is that time of the year, not because they have anything with Christmas, unless I can find a tenuous link. Or I might not bother. Let’s see how it goes.

Let us begin with Vinca difformis ‘Jenny Pym’, with its pretty blushing flower. This has been in the front garden for a couple of years and is bulking up beautifully. As is my wont, I had forgotten about its presence until it caught my eye as I hobbled up the path yesterday. I think I love it more each year. And then I forget about it for nine months.

Next is my new greenhouse, complete with intact door and free from holes in places that there should not be holes. The odds on my cuttings and seedlings making it through the winter have grown. When a cold snap threatens I will wrap some horticultural fleece around and about. They should be snug enough. OH is vindicated.

We have had some dreadful weather in the last couple of weeks, driving rain coupled with persistent gales. During this time I have been worrying about the plants “up the steps”, many of which need winter protection. I need not have worried as they seem to have coped quite well without my rapt attention. Much to my amazement/joy thisTibouchina urvilleana is in full flower, as are Salvia corrugata, Salvia leucantha and Lavandula pinnata.

I had been warned, and the description was accurate. The builders had indeed macheted a trail through the Bed of Anarchy. It is what it is. We can fix it.

Teasels are a tradition in our garden. They pop up wherever and whenever and hopefully always will. Earlier this week I was called to the window, the goldfinches had found their winter snackbar. It all makes sense when you see these glamorous birds swaying in the wind on the barbed heads. You will have to imagine them, or not, they look quite good alone in their spiky splendour.

The late, great, Freddie Mercury once sang “don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time” and many have since echoed his plea, including this nasturtium. Many of its fellows have been frosted to mush or stomped into the ground, but this one, clambering through the rosemary bush, is determined to see Christmas.

So there we have it, six things that are happening today in the garden, where I was, the first time for a month. I enjoyed my mini-sojourn and it has fuelled my will to get back to full health as soon as possible. And even better!

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, both those who make witty, kind, entertaining and, sometimes, challenging comments and those also who linger in the shadows (not in a scary way). I really do appreciate it. I wish you all a wonderful festive period, I hope it bring you everything you need and a little bit more.

still a lot of colors this week … and this tibouchina… delightful !
For your mini-greenhouse, you have to well fix it on the ground in case of wind, Because I don’t know you, but here it blows a lot for 2-3 days ! …. but what a mild weather we have…. incredible for Christmas.

A very pretty periwinkle but I am a bit scared of the whole tribe. The piece I stole from The Isle of Wight has designs on my whole garden.
A Tibouchina? I salute you, my green- fingered friend, having killed 3 of the things.
So glad you are getting up steps, looking forward to hearing that you are back to cart wheeling.

The Periwinkle is an amazing plant, one flowers near here most of the year round and I nabbed a bit as a cutting for my own garden. So far so good. I also had a hop around my very wet, brown and mushy garden. The weeds are growing well! Those driving rains have been very busy here, driving water into my ‘new’ orangery which for the moment I have renamed ‘the wet room’. Sigh…

That purple flower is lovely. Our plastic greenhouse used to have a few bricks on the bottom shelf and some string wrapped around it and threaded through a metal vine eye thingy on the fence to stop it from being blown down. They’re great if you’re short on space.

I’m surprised you have a Tibouchina in flower now, so well done! The only Vinca I can plant is the annual one which gives up the minute there’s a whisper of a frost but is wonderful during the summer and I’ve tucked white ones around the place for a bit of a lift.
I always enjoy reading your posts, Gill and look forward to many more!

So pleased that foot is well enough to take you up the garden in time for Christmas! Hope OH and you both have a very happy one. Looking forward to you being fit enough to accompany me around Rosemoor soon.
If the finches leave a teasel seed or two please can I have one, they have disappeared from my garden.
Happy New Year and keep your blogs going, please, xx

I just wrote a rant about how we no longer use proper nomenclature, just a few days after you wrote the correct name of Vinca difformis ‘Jenny Pym’. We just know it as Vinca ‘Jenny Pym’. Ha.
I am sorry that I have been out for too long. I will catch up.

You have been missed! Hope everything is OK. I always try and get my plant names right, although I don’t always succeed, I have a very discerning audience. Happy New Year Tony, hope it will be a good one for you and yours x

It is getting Okay now. I just feel the residual effects of the illness. I am more angry about being sick than actually sick.
One of my rules about the plants that I feature is that, unless writing about a collective group of cultivars of different specie (such as Japanese anemones, which include more than one specie), I will not write about anything that lacks a specie name. If it has only a genus name and a cultivar name, I let it go. I know that most probably ‘have’ a species name, but if the producer does not care enough about them to include it, than I do not care enough about it to write about it. Proven Winners does not like me much.